The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly to a vacuum cleaner being repaired easily and capable of informing a user of a collected dust level.
A conventional vacuum cleaner disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 9-192056 has a configuration as shown in FIG. 34 and FIG. 35. Referring to the drawings, the configuration will be explained below.
As shown in the drawings, the vacuum cleaner includes a working element, i.e., a blower 201, a dust collection box unit 202 having a dust collection box 212 and a filter unit 213, and a rotary brush 203. The cleaner also includes a nozzle section 204 which accommodating the above parts and a handle 205 coupled to the nozzle section 204. A case of the nozzle section 204, being composed of an upper unit 206 and a lower unit 207, supports or holds the working element of the blower 201, the dust collection box unit 202, and the rotary brush 203. In this configuration, for being repaired or maintained, the inside of the cleaner cannot be checked unless all screws tightening the upper unit 206 and lower unit 207 of the nozzle section 204 are removed. Recently, moreover, in order to give a one-body impression of the design of the nozzle section 204 and upper unit 206, a division line between the units tends to be hidden.
A dust suction port 209 linking to the dust collection box unit 202 is provided at the center of the nozzle section 204, and dust particles are swept out from a floor with the rotary brush 203 and are sucked into the dust collecting box unit 202. A suction passage 210 from the blower 201 is provided at a belt side nearly from the center in the dust collection box unit 202. The dust particles swept out from the floor with the rotary brush 203 pass through the dust suction port 209, and get into the dust collection box unit 202. In this case, since a positional deviation between an exhaust port 211 and the dust suction port 209 of the dust collection box unit 202 is slight, the dust particles are collected at the center, and are hardly collected at the corners of the dust collection box unit 202. As a result, even if the dust collection box unit 202 is not filled with the dust particles, power of suction may be dropped.
A switch 214 is attached to the lower unit of the nozzle section 204, and is turned on and off with a pedal 215. The switch 214 is connected with a wire to a charger connection part 220 which connects the blower 201, a second motor 216 for driving the rotary brush 203, and a battery 218 to a charger.
The battery 218 and blower 201 are located at one side from the center in the nozzle section 204.
Exhaust from the blower 201 is released from an exhaust port 222 provided in the upper unit 206 of the nozzle section 204. The exhaust port 222 is provided with an exhaust filter 223 for removing dust particles from the exhaust.
In this configuration, however, if there occurs a trouble in the nozzle section 204, the inside of the nozzle section cannot be checked unless all screws tightening the nozzle section 204 are removed. And it hence takes much time and labor to check the inside through disassembling it. Moreover, in an assembling process, since the switch 214 and the charger connection part 220 are far from each other, a lead wire 221 needs to be long, thus making the cleaner be hardly assembled.
Besides, since the blower 201 and battery 218 are placed upper and lower at the same position, the center of gravity of the nozzle section 204 is shifted to one side of the section, and the cleaner is hardly carried and used.
Further, since this cleaner has no mechanism for locking the nozzle section 204 with the handle 205 when being carried, upon the cleaner having the handle 205 lifted, the nozzle section 204 droops down. Therefore, when carrying the cleaner, a user must lift the nozzle section 204 with holding a portion of the depth of the section, with not holding a slight portion, and thus, can hardly carry the cleaner. To the contrary, if the cleaner is designed to have the nozzle section 204 and handle 205 locked, it is necessary to unlock by stepping on the nozzle section 204 although the holding force of lock is sufficient, and the cleaner can thus hardly be used.
Further, exhaust is not released to outside of the vacuum cleaner recently, but in this configuration, the exhaust is discharged outside, and is not good for environments.
The configuration of the dust collection box unit 202 installed in a central recess of the nozzle section 204, from the aspect of design, requires the handle of the dust collection box unit 202 formed in the center This sacrifices a dust collection capacity of the dust collection box unit 202. And further, the upward opening makes a portion around the opening hollow and weak structurally.
The cleaner is packaged as a completed product with the handle 205 attached, but tends to be packaged smaller and lighter recently, and the package size is thus required to reduce. When repairing the cleaner, since the handle 205 is not locked, an operator must lower his/her waist for putting the product horizontally, and can hardly work.
The switch 214 can be turned on and off by stepping on the pedal 215, but may be hardly used with the foot or stepped by a lefty.
Since the second motor 216 is used for rotating the rotary brush 203, the cleaner has an increased weight, and this is out of a recent trend of a small size and light weight.
Dust is collected only at the suction path by the blower 201 in the dust collection box unit 202 which is exposed to suction by the blower 201, and dust does not gather in the end portion of the unit.
For being installed in a recess 224 of the nozzle section 204, the dust collection box unit 202 is not prevented sufficiently from being inserted in wrong direction.
The dust suction port 209, which is provided in the center of the nozzle section 204 has bristles of which direction does not match to the rotation direction of the rotary brush 203. This decreases a dust collection performance.
Since an intake port 225 of the dust collection box unit 202 is made of soft material, when being installed in the recess 224 of the nozzle section 204, the dust collection box unit 202 receives an excessive fitting stress and may thus deform in order to be fit tightly.
The dust collection box unit 202 is held and fixed at a ratchet holder 226 provided at a side of the bottom of the recess 224 of the nozzle section 204. In this case, dust may leak from the dust collection box unit 202 and may be collected in the ratchet holder 226, and may make the holder 226 fail to function.
Since the dust collection box unit 202 is inserted into the recess 224 of the nozzle section 204 from above, a detaching handle 227 of the dust collection box unit 202 must be provided in the center of the dust collection box unit 202. This decreases the dust collection capacity and makes the appearance poor.
The dust collection box unit 202 installed in the central recess of the nozzle section 204 requires the opening made upward and makes the strength weaker.
Another conventional vacuum cleaner disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No.10-302461 has a configuration as shown in FIG. 36 to FIG. 38. The configuration will be explained below while referring to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 36 to FIG. 38, a battery 233 and a blower 234 driven by it are accommodated in a cleaner main body 231. Behind the cleaner main body 231, a dust collector 231b is provided at a suction side of the blower 234. Ahead of the cleaner main body 231, a suction unit 231a is provided, and a lower side of the suction unit 231a has a suction port for leading dust from a cleaning surface into the suction unit 231a. The suction unit 231a and the dust collector 231b are communicated through a communicating path. At a lower side behind the cleaner main body 231, a terminal connection unit 235 for charging is disposed. A lower side of the terminal connection unit 235 has a concave shape, and a terminal 235a is fitted in this concave inner wall. At a rear end of the cleaner main body 231, a traveling roller 246 projecting from the lower side and rear side of the cleaner main body 231 is provided. A charger 237 is composed of a box unit 238, a coupling unit 241 extending forward from the lower-front end of the box unit 238, and a terminal unit 239 for charging provided on the coupling unit 241 at the front side of the box unit 238 which is inserted into a recess of the terminal connection unit 235 of the cleaner main body 231. Near the terminal unit 239 in the box unit 238, a power source transformer 240 for charging is incorporated. With having the terminal connection unit 235 receive the terminal unit 239 of the charger 237 inserted thereto and with having mutual terminals connected to each other, the cleaner main body 231 is installed horizontally on the charger 237 to be connected electrically, so that the battery 233 in the cleaner main body 231 may be charged. A power cable 242 is inserted into an ordinary wall outlet.
In such conventional configuration, however, as shown in FIG. 37, the transformer 240, printed circuit boards, and other electrical parts are disposed inside. The charger 237 is formed in a box shape with the terminal unit 239 for charging to be inserted into the terminal connection unit 235 of the cleaner main body 231. The charger 237 and the terminal connection unit 235 for charging of the cleaner main body 231 are fitted and installed horizontally. In this case, the cleaner main body 231 and the charger 237 are stored in a tandem layout, and the storing space is large. When the charger 237 is mounted on the cleaner main body 231, the terminal connection unit 235 provided beneath the cleaner main body 231 and the terminal unit 239 of the charger 237 placed on a floor must be connected by inserting convex and concave ribs exactly from above. This makes the cleaner be hardly used.
The invention is to solve above problems, and a first object thereof is to allow a cleaner to be repaired easily, to inform a user of a dust collection level, and to be used easily.
A second object is to allow a cleaner to be charged and stored in a compact space for being used easily.
To achieve the first object, the invention presents a cleaner including working elements of the cleaner, that is, a blower and a dust collection box unit, both disposed in a nozzle section, and a handle coupled to the nozzle section. A case of the nozzle section is composed of an upper unit and a lower unit. And at least one of the working elements is supported by the upper unit and other member disposed at the lower unit or by the lower unit and other member disposed at the upper unit.
As a result, the cleaner can be repaired without having all screws removed, and thus, can be repaired easily.
The dust collection box unit communicating with a suction side of the blower for collecting dust is composed of a dust collection box and a filter unit detachably fitted to the dust collection box. Intake air through the dust collection box unit flows nearly in parallel with a surface of the filter unit.
Accordingly, dust particles are collected in the dust collection box unit sequentially from the inner side of the dust collection box unit, and a user can visually recognize a dust collection level, and thus, the cleaner can be used easily.
To achieve the second object, the vacuum cleaner includes a cleaner main body having a terminal connection unit for charging, and a charger of a box shape formed separately. And a terminal unit for charging is provided at a coupling surface of the box shape, and the cleaner main body is mounted on the coupling surface.
As a result, instead of a tandem layout, the charger of the box shape can be placed in parallel with the cleaner main body, and a floor contact area occupied by the cleaner main body and the charger overlaying on the body when the body is stored. This provides the cleaner with no obstacle when being stored, and is used easily.